Photo: Stock.Xchng

Given what’s happened in Haiti and Chile recently, everybody secretly fears a natural disaster could affect them in whichever part of the world they are in. Now, it has come to light that large LCD panels’ manufacturers in Taiwan had to shut down operations after a 6.4 Richter scale earthquake hit the region.

Safety precautions

In the interest of safety, Hannstar Display Corporation and Chi Mei Optoelectronics briefly stopped producing large LCD panels. Given research firm iSuppli estimates that between the two of these companies 16.3% of the world’s large LCD panels are manufactured, any protracted halt on production could have a significant impact on big screen LCD TV supply.

Photo: Hannstar

Even with a very brief halt in production, in taking 12-24 hours to getting the factories powered up and production ready, a considerable volume of supply is lost, as well as proving a very costly situation for the manufacturers involved.  If, however damage has been done to the manufacturing equipment, shutdown periods can be of a significantly greater duration, considering these factories source their machinery elsewhere or have it custom made to spec.

The aftermath of the quake

Regarding the quake itself, deaths have yet to be reported, however thousands of those within Taiwan’s borders are presently without electricity.

LCD, the next frontier

With 3D televisions being on the verge of release and LCD TV sets being common place, it is expected that LCD production will increase at a record high rate, meaning downward pressure will be applied to HD TV pricing due to manufacturers wanting to ensure they move excess inventory. This is certainly a positive for consumers who are beginning to see true budget HD TVs, but it’s not so encouraging for manufacturers who see their television businesses making a loss, considering margins will only get smaller as prices get lower and lower.